Ubuntu – How to pin a particular MySQL version to avoid unnecessary upgrades

aptaptitudeMySQLpinning

I'm running a MySQL server, and want to keep it up to date with regular apt-upgrades. I don't want this to cause MySQL to upgrade unless I'm doing it during scheduled downtime! How do I alter my apt-preferences so that this won't happen?

I've tried adding this to a file as /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-mysql

Package: mysql-client-5.1
Pin: version 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: mysql-client-core-5.1
Pin: version 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: mysql-common
Pin: version 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: mysql-server
Pin: version 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: mysql-server-5.1
Pin: version 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: mysql-server-core-5.1
Pin: version 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
Pin-Priority: 1001

That then states the packages are pinned with "apt-cache policy" outputting:

... all package sources here
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Packages
     release v=10.04,o=Ubuntu,a=lucid-security,n=lucid,l=Ubuntu,c=universe
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/restricted Packages
     release v=10.04,o=Ubuntu,a=lucid-security,n=lucid,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted
     origin security.ubuntu.com
... etc
Pinned packages:
     mysql-server -> 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
     mysql-server-core-5.1 -> 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
     mysql-client-core-5.1 -> 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
     mysql-common -> 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
     mysql-server-5.1 -> 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7
     mysql-client-5.1 -> 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7

However… running aptitude safe-upgrade just updated MySQL… what am I doing wrong?

Best Answer

If you want to prevent the upgrade of a package, then pinning is not the way to go. What you need is called holding, and you can find out how to do it on this page in the Ubuntu online help

Related Question